On the afternoon of May 2, rescue organization Pilots to the Rescue transported dozens of beagles from beagle breeder Ridglan Farms from Janesville to Caldwell, New Jersey where they will eventually go to animal rescues in New York and Virginia.
The flight is the first in a week-and-a-half operation starting May 1 to transfer 1,500 of the roughly 2,200 beagles currently housed at Ridglan to animal shelters and rescues. Dane County Humane Society will take 500 of Ridglan’s beagles and 300 left May 1 for Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Florida. Leaders at a Thursday press conference said they anticipate 50 of the dogs in Dane County will be up for adoption in the coming weeks, and asked for volunteers to rehabilitate dogs prior to adoption.
The effort follows growing national scrutiny of Ridglan Farms, including statements from Rep. Mark Pocan and gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong, and bipartisan political backlash against animal testing.
“Dogs have souls,” volunteer mission pilot August Lim told The Daily Cardinal. “They should be living their best lives, not [in] a wire cage.”
Volunteer pilots Stephen Nur and Lim flew a Daher Kodiak 100, a midsize plane they called ideal for the dogs’ weight, in a nearly ten-hour round-trip flight. They departed from Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville, which they said offers lower fees and fuel costs than Dane County Regional Airport.
To balance the aircraft, heavier dogs were placed in the front with smaller dogs in the back. The pilots take precautions, like not raising their altitude too quickly and staying below 8,000 feet to avoid animal hypoxia. Lim said the engine’s roar often lulls animals to sleep during the ride.
Nur and Lim described the mission as an emergency operation — the organization typically transports dogs from overcrowded shelters, rather than research facilities, to no-kill shelters. Three no-kill rescue groups on the East Coast are waiting to provide behavioral support and medical care for the dogs, the pilots said.
“They have to get treatment first, vaccination and everything and getting their paperwork done and then they will get adopted,” Nur said. “They grew up in a different environment.”
Pilots to the Rescue employs 12 volunteer pilots, who go on around three missions a week. Lim joined Pilots to the Rescue late April, and Nur’s been involved for a year and a half.
Animal rescuers from group Second Chance Rescue, which is affiliated with Big Dog Ranch Rescue, transported the beagles from an undisclosed pickup location to the Janesville airport and helped load them into vans and aircraft. Of the rescuers Holly Rilinger, Vanessa Piazza, Joseph Hunt and Liz Liguori, Liguori, Piazza and Rilinger planned to adopt at least one beagle of their own from the group.
According to the group of rescuers, the dogs arrived with varying medical needs; many shook as they left their kennels and were flecked with feces, urine and vomit from the drive. They were all male as a safety precaution, as none had been neutered. Several of the dogs’ legs gave out when placed on the ground and they suspected at least one had a broken jaw.
“We’re lucky we even have their records,” Rilinger said.
What is Ridglan Farms?
Ridglan Farms was the second-largest research beagle breeder in the United States until recently, and garnered significant media and political backlash after committing animal rights violations. The controversy culminated in two internationally attended rescue attempts March 15 and April 18 at the facility. The animal rights groups that organized the rescue attempts, taking 23 beagles during the March 15 operation, are separate from the organizations purchasing the dogs, despite personnel overlap.
Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett released a statement condemning the March 15 and April 18 attempts while praising the “collaboration, cooperation and communication” between Ridglan and animal rescue groups involved in the purchase.
Big Dog Ranch Rescue executive director Lauree Simmons said they paid Ridglan “well under” the $1 million they originally offered, but cannot disclose the actual number under an agreement with the facility. Ridglan Farms declined to provide an accurate count of beagles currently housed at the facility, citing the safety of animals and staff after “mass attacks and break-ins by extremists.”
Wayne Pacelle, president of the Center for a Humane Economy, said rescue groups hope to purchase the dogs still in the facility over the next months. More than 1,000 beagles will be sent to other rescue groups in other states, Pacelle told WKOW — including 150 at the Wisconsin Humane Society in Milwaukee.
"Ridglan, to my vantage point, looks like it’s winding down operations," Pacelle said.
Brian Wagenaar, a law student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who attended the April 18 operation, said members of the team he led in the operation are hoping to adopt or foster some of the beagles.
“We're not going to be involved in the rescue at all, [but] we're happy that the dogs are getting out,” he said.
Wagenaar said the April 18 group is organizing a class-action lawsuit against Ridglan and Dane County officials following injuries from tear gas and non-lethal munitions.
“Realistically with the level of force that Dane County was prepared to use and had brought, there was no chance we were going to make it,” Wagenaar said. “I feel really bad for the people who did get hurt and got bruised and their legs got messed up. One guy was knocked out for several minutes by police.”
The Ridglan movement coincides with a bipartisan national movement against animal testing. A 2022 law removed animal testing requirements for new drugs before clinical trials, and a follow-up bill this Congressional session would require the Secretary of Health and Human services “to replace any references to ‘animal’ tests, data, studies, models and research with a reference to nonclinical tests, data, studies, models and research.”
“My family grew up with a beagle. His name was Skip. He lived to be almost 17,” Wagenaar said. “It's such an easy issue to sell… [people] might not agree with every tactic, but they see that this is a justifiable action. “
Rep. Pocan added a Ridglan-inspired stipulation to a new bill requiring the USDA to review breeders’ federal licenses if they lose their state-level certification.
Ridglan Farms is one of the primary suppliers of beagles bred for research and until this year was second only to Marshall BioResources facility in upstate New York. A USDA report found that 42,880 dogs were used in research facilities in 2024, most in studies without pain.
“Logically, the next step is the MBR facility in upstate New York… those dogs are super lovable, and I think there's a lot of people who would love to see those dogs get out,” Wagenaar said.
Ridglan plans to close its breeding facility July 1 as part of an agreement to avoid felony criminal charges related to animal cruelty, though it will be allowed to continue conducting research.
Ridglan maintained the dogs are "happy, healthy and well cared for” in their facility in a Thursday statement.
